The Japanese Akane Yamaguchi, the number one in the ranking in 2018, is a contender for gold at Tokyo 2020.
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It has probably happened to you: you are attracted to Olympic Games, but you don’t enjoy some disciplines because you don’t understand them. Well, at CNET we will give you a hand, explaining quickly how the lesser-known sports that you will see in Tokyo 2020. Now it’s badminton’s turn.
Editor’s note: The International Olympic Committee reported on March 24 that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were suspended for the coronavirus. The competition will take place sometime in 2021. When the date is announced, we will update this note.
What is badminton?
Badminton is a sport with a curious journey: it was born in India, it was brought to England and regulated at the end of the 19th century by Western countries. He made his debut at the Olympic Games in Barcelona 1992 and the great powers of the discipline are the Asian countries.
The World Badminton Federation (in English, Badminton World Federation, or BWF) is the institution that regulates the rules of badminton at a competitive level and celebrates competitions and events in each of its disciplines.
This sport is similar to tennis or ping-pong, in the sense that there is a net in the middle and rackets, but it has its differences. First, because there is no ball involved, but a shuttlecock (also known as a cock or feather and which we will talk about later). The video below of the past Olympic Games held in Rio is worth watching for context.
The protagonist of the video is the Spanish Carolina Marín, one of the best players today. In Rio 2016 she won the gold medal after defeating the representative of India, Sindhu V. Pusarla, by 19-21, 21-12 and 21-15.
In the images, as we anticipated, elements of other specialties are recognized – rackets, mesh or net and limited space. The big difference, as I was saying, is the steering wheel (pen, pen, fly or trigger). This artifact has an open conical shape; the cone is made up of 16 feathers inserted around a hemispherical cork base with strong thread – the goose feather shuttlecock is used for professional competition only, and is usually made of synthetic materials. As a curious fact, the feathers must be from the left wing of the animal, all on the same side, so that they turn in the same direction.
The interesting design of the steering wheel, which was studied for the development of the space vehicle SpaceShipOne, enables it to reach speeds of over 300 kilometers per hour, making badminton the fastest racket sport in the world.
The strategy
The objective of badminton is that the shuttlecock falls on the opponent’s court or that the opponent cannot return it to the assigned area. Let’s detail more graphically how a point can be given:
- When the opponent cannot return the shuttlecock and it remains on their side of the court.
- When the opponent manages to return it, but sends it outside the delimited lines.
- If the opponent touches the shuttle twice in a row before he crosses the net. In doubles it is also considered a foul if it is touched by the two players of the same team.
The player who starts serving is chosen with a coin flip. The serve is taken from a specifically established area and must be executed diagonally, as in tennis, with a shot on the shuttle from below the player’s waist. An important detail: when the player has an even score, he scores on the right side and if it is odd, on the left side.
The match is played two out of three sets. Each set ends when someone scores 21 points. If the competitors tie at 20, it continues until one of them obtains a difference of two units, that is, 22-20 or 24-22 and so on. And if this does not happen, the winner will be the first to reach 30 points (the score does not extend beyond 30 points).
Due to wear and tear and little pause, when one of the competitors scores 11 points, there is a one minute break. Between each set, there is a two-minute break. In the second set, the position of the court is changed.
These are the sports in which you could be a champion and you still don’t know it
To see photos
The rules
Badminton really is simple and shares some rules with other disciplines. For example: if the serve is not diagonal, a point is lost, as in tennis or ping-pong. You cannot touch the mesh with your body or the racket, as in volleyball. To enforce these rules, each competition is supervised by 12 judges.
Why so many judges? Because there are too many details and the game is very fast. For example: in addition to being performed below the waist and heading to the opposite angle, at the time of the serve, the performer must:
- Hit the feathers of the steering wheel and not the cork part.
- Stepping on any of the lines that demarcate the service zone (this rule also affects the receiver).
- Lift one foot before hitting the steering wheel.
As in addition to singles (male and female), it is played in pairs (male, female and mixed), the rules become a bit more complicated in the cases of doubles.
In doubles, when a set starts, it is chosen which player will take the first serve and the catch. However, the position on the court is the same as the Singles match: the player who serves to the right and the player who receives to the left.
The other two players not involved in the play can position themselves wherever they wish as long as they do not obstruct the view of the server and the receiver.
If the team that took the service wins the point, the same player serves again, but from the other side of the court (according to even or odd points, as in individual points). While the receivers remain in the same position.
When it is the receiving team that adds the point, then it takes the serve, but does not change position with respect to the previous reception and the player who is on the corresponding side of the court serves according to the score.
The idea of the above is that it is not a single player who always serves, but that they alternate. It reads complicated, but in the doubles video above between the Indonesian and Malaysian representation, you can see that the rotation system is simple.
Just as the practice of a sport makes its understanding much easier, after watching some badminton matches, we become familiar with its dynamics. So take advantage of this guide and give this great discipline a try.
The most unusual moments of Rio 2016 [fotos]
To see photos
